Directions:Preheat oven to 350. Line or grease and flour one 12 well muffin tin. In a large bowl, mix together the oatmeal, egg, oil, buttermilk, and sugar. After it is thoroughly mixed, add in the flour, salt, nutmeg, baking powder, and baking soda. Stir to combine. Fold in the dried cranberries. Divide evenly amount 12 muffin wells. Bake 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the center muffin comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack, serve.

*Chop them up if they are freakishly large. The ones I had were on the small side so I left them whole.

Note: If you are using unsweetened dried cranberries, you might want to add additional sugar to the recipe as cranberries are quite tart.

My thoughts:

We're having a major house cleaning day today so I thought muffins would be a good choice for breakfast-quick and filling. I was looking for inspiration in the cupboards and came across a bag of Craisins I has purchased at least a year ago. I checked the expiration date and it was for the end of this month so I thought I'd better use it up. I like the idea of dried fruit and often pick up bags of it, but I never seem to get around to actually eating it. Adding them to the oatmeal muffin recipe I had been thinking about all week seemed like a good idea. I was worried the muffins might be too heavy or chewy, but it worked out fine, the muffin was fluffy, the cranberries really plumped up and I am always amazed at how oatmeal seems to disappear once it is baked.

The muffins sound awfully good...muffins are great to have around as 'instant breakfast'. Only hitch is that they'll go moldy in a few days if not kept cold. And don't take those exp. dates too seriously. The whole point of dried fruit is that you can keep them a long time. A little soaking will bring them back if they're too dry. Sometimes the dates are just the food companies way of saying Buy More, Buy More, waste, waste, waste!!

Fixed the egg. Re: the ingredient list, it is in order by size. I've done it the same way for over 3 years now and have no plans to change, a lot of cookbooks use the same method. I suggest assembling your ingredients ahead of time if you are worried about leaving something out.